Tag: WGA

UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer told his writer-clients Wednesday night that they won’t be the only artists affected if the WGA gets its way and puts the agencies out of the packaging business. “These decisions impact a broad section of the TV ecosystem,” …

The WGA is deputizing managers and attorneys to procure employment for writers and negotiate their over-scale terms – essentially taking the place of agents. The move comes as the guild prepares for the possibility that it might ask all writers t…

WGA leaders are set to meet Wednesday night with a group of showrunners who are raising concerns about the guild’s handling of negotiations with talent agents over the issue of packaging fees and agency-affiliated productions. The meeting is set …

The WGA says it has made a “significant move” toward reaching a deal with the Association of Talent Agents for a new franchise agreement. The move comes ahead of the two sides returning to the bargaining table Thursday.
“It is our hope that this signif…

With a week to go before WGA members begin voting on a new code of conduct that act as a fatal silver bullet through the heart of the agencies’ lucrative packaging plans, UTA tried to strap on a new Kevlar vest of data Wednesday.
In a pithy 10-page TV …

EXCLUSIVE: With the clock ticking on the April 6 end of the WGA and the Association of Talent Agents’ franchise agreement and a March 27 starting vote by guild members on a new Code of Conduct that could see packaging kicked to the curb, WME’s Presiden…

Note: David Simon is the former newspaperman turned TV writer/producer and show creator whose TV work includes Homicide: Life On The Street, The Wire, Treme and The Deuce. He wrote a post on his personal blog The Audacity Of Despair that grasps the con…

The WGA has taken another step toward asking its members to fire their agents en masse if the guild doesn’t reach an agreement with the Association of Talent Agents for a new franchise agreement by April 6.
In a message to members today, leaders of the…

The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents have concluded their fifth day of bargaining for a new franchise agreement, with the ATA saying there’s a “dark cloud of uncertainty” hanging over Hollywood as the two sides again made litt…

In defense of packaging deals, the Association of Talent Agents on Monday released a report that claims writers would have had to pay at least $49 million more in commissions during the 2017-2018 TV season if their projects had not been packaged, becau…

A new WGA report, titled “Agencies For Sale,” claims that $3 billion in private equity investments in WME and CAA “is upending Hollywood talent representation” and “threatens to overwhelm the major agencies’ core purpose as agents – to represent …

EXCLUSIVE: The WGA’s efforts to “divide and conquer” the talent agencies by forcing them to sign its new Code of Conduct isn’t gaining any ground with the Association of Talent Agents’ 113 member-agencies – none of which has broken ranks and sign…

UPDATED with opening statement by WGA West president David A. Goodman: The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents met today for the second time this week to hammer out a new franchise agreement ahead of the April 6 deadline for a deal. Little progres…

The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents wrapped a franchise agreement negotiating session on Thursday with a commitment to meet again on Monday. The sides are trying to hammer out a deal to avert the prospect of thousands of WGA members severing t…

With its stunning Jerusalem setting, Keshet’s Innovative TV Conference (INTV) makes it a welcome respite for executives, producers and agents/managers who leave the stress of Hollywood behind for a few days in the Holy City. Not this year.
There …

UPDATED with talks ending for day, new talks scheduled: The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents have scheduled another meeting for Thursday after concluding negotiations today, the first meeting between the two sides since February 19. The talks c…

The Writers Guild of America and the Association of Talent Agencies ended a third round of negotiations on Tuesday, hours after the WGA released a 16-page report attacking the packaging fees Hollywood agencies operate on, saying that the fees create conflicts of interest.

The talks came after a series of acrimonious exchanges between the leaders of the two organizations, with the ATA questioning whether the WGA was negotiating in good faith and the WGA in turn saying that the agencies had not provided a set of counterproposals. The ATA came to a Tuesday meeting with such a set, saying that the proposals came after meetings with hundreds of writers.

“If we are to come up with a joint agreement, which I know our clients desperately want us to have, then we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on a constructive process that will result in an agreement that works for everyone,” said ATA President Jim Gosnell in an opening statement.

“We need to avoid the name calling and divisiveness that get us nowhere and will only set us back. Your agents are not your enemies, and they do not want to take advantage of you. If that were true, we wouldn’t be here today, and you would not be represented by us.”

The ATA’s proposals include a promise for more transparency between writers and agents in the packaging process and clamping down on deals that involve packaging without the writers’ consent. The offer promises that agencies will not engage in independent film/TV packaging or sales services, or request packaging fees for such services, until the writer is informed of the process and gives it their approval.

The proposals also promise that a similar approach of transparency will be given when handling projects associated with “affiliated entities,” or production companies either created or partially owned by agencies but which operate as separate businesses. As part of the new system, agents will be required to disclose their agencies’ relationships to those affiliates and inform writers that they have the option to ask their agents to make offers to competitors of those affiliates.

The counterproposals also include provisions to improve working conditions for writers and an enforcement system with streamlined arbitration whenever writers wish to file a complaint. What the counterproposals don’t include is an agreement to completely eliminate the packaging fee system, something that the ATA has for weeks said none of its member agencies will agree to and which the WGA is threatening to eliminate by enforcing a new Code of Conduct that would require such packaging fees to be removed in order for an agency to represent WGA Membership.

In a statement released shortly after the end of negotiations, the WGA called Tueday’s talks “a small step forward,” but cautioned that “all major issues are still on the table.”

“Today the ATA responded to our opening proposals. Today’s session was a small step forward for the parties,” the WGA said. “There is another negotiating session scheduled with the ATA on Thursday, at which time the Guild will make a counterproposal in specific contract language.”

“The response from the ATA is what we expected in a first proposal. All major issues are still on the table,” the Guild continued. “The agencies couched their proposals as all about an individual writer’s ‘choice.’ However, theoretically writers already have that ‘choice.’ Their proposals require each individual to respond to a powerful agency – that is virtually no choice at all. The solutions in the new agreement need to be collective through the Guild, not individual.”

The guild will hold a vote on March 25 where members will decide whether to authorize leadership to enforce the new Code of Conduct. If authorized, the Code of Conduct would go into effect on April 7.

In the report released on Tuesday morning, the WGA cited specific examples of TV shows, including “The Walking Dead,” as proof of how packaging fees have harmed writers and showrunners. It includes emails sent between the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and AMC over packaging fees for “The Walking Dead” when its first season was in development in 2010.

The WGA says that the packaging fees were being negotiated before a contract was finalized with the show’s former executive producer Frank Darabont, who was represented by the agency. The agency also negotiated packaging fees for potential spinoffs such as “Fear The Walking Dead,” which premiered in 2015.

“The emails lay bare the conflict inherent in packaging. Not only does CAA get to benefit from a profit definition that is based on its client’s MAGR [modified adjusted gross receipts] definition, but the agency’s share of profits is actually paid before its client’s as an ‘off-the-top deduction,’” reads the report.

“This means that CAA’s share of profits reduces the pool of profit available to its client. Further, CAA’s client receives no benefit if the agency negotiates a packaging fee on a spinoff of the series,” it continued.

As of writing, the WGA and ATA have yet to release official statements on the results of the latest negotiations.

Just hours before resuming negotiations with the Association of Talent Agents for a new franchise agreement, the WGA released a 16-page report this morning that accuses the major agencies of running a vertically integrated “cartel” that has cornered th…

The WGA has released another batch of horror stories its members are sharing about being screwed over by their agents because of packaging deals. “My agent tried to talk me out of taking a job as a writer on a show that is now on lists of all-time grea…

The WGA and Hollywood talent agencies are going back to the negotiating table on Tuesday as they wrestle with the guild’s efforts to impose new rules on franchised agents that would bar them from receiving packaging fees or putting writers in age…

Painting a grim picture of “these ruthless, self-serving agents,” the WGA today released five new position papers on its key demands for a new franchise agreement with the Association of Talent Agents.
“We don’t want to bombard you with information, bu…